Off Target in Sotomayor Ad

Yesterday we wrote about a radio ad attacking Florida Republican Reps. Adam Putnam and John Mica for not denouncing radio personality Rush Limbaugh for calling Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor a "racist" and a "bigot." We found that the ad was accurate in capturing the words of Limbaugh and in its description of the historical significance of Sotomayor’s nomination. We left it to readers to determine how responsible the congressmen were for Limbaugh’s words.

After the story was published, Rep. Putnam’s communications director, Keith Rupp, contacted FactCheck.org to say that Putnam had actually voiced support for Sotomayor. In an interview with the Tampa Tribune, Putnam said that he "believe[d] that she should be confirmed." Also, in the May 31 Orlando Sentinel, columnist Scott Maxwell quoted Putnam as saying:

Putnam: I have not seen anything that would disqualify her. And I certainly would not call her a racist based on anything we have seen so far.

So while Putnam may not have directly denounced Limbaugh’s words, he certainly disagreed with them.